Gone
by BryannaB709
Summary: After Alice leaves for the third time, what will become of our poor Hatter? (My version of what should have happened) Rated K plus for a little violence.


_A/N:_ Just watched _Alice Through the Looking Glass_ , and, just like the first one, the erst of the movie was amazing, but the ending _stunk!_ The look on Tarrant's face when Alice leaves for the third time was awful! So, I decided to vent my feelings into this. Hope you enjoy it! Or not. Just as long as you review.

 _Disclaimer:_ MAJOR spoiler alert for the new movie! BTW, I own nothing.

 _Another A/N:_ I'm pretty sure I butchered the quotes from this scene in the movie.

 **Gone**

Tarrant looked at Alice from across the small section of floor. He had his family, and now, he thought, Alice would finally stay, and he could finally be happy.

Alice smiled, and ran into his open arms. He hugged her back, with all of his love and madness.

She broke the hug, and smiled again. Tarrant's eyes turned a bright shade of violet as he smiled back, and just looked at her.

He snapped out of his small tangent, and said, "Oh, how silly of me, I've got to show you my family!"

Alice's smile faded a small notch as the mirror to her left started to glow slightly.

Tarrant's smile disappeared entirely, and he said, "Oh."

Alice smiled sadly, and stroked his pale cheek, saying, "I'll come back."

Tarrant's eyes faded to a sad powder-blue, and he said, "You won't remember me."

Alice stepped a little closer, and said, "I will always remember you, Tarrant."

Tarrant smiled a small, sad smile; and said, "In the palace of dreams we shall meet."

Alice smiled, and hugged him again; this time slower, and more sincere.

Tarrant held her close while the hug lasted, then helped her up the few stairs to the mirror.

Alice looked back at Tarrant and the others, and said sadly, "Good-bye. I _will_ miss each and every one of you."

She stepped forward, about to step through the mirror, but Tarrant found himself gently holding her arm.

He pulled her gently towards him, and planted a soft kiss on her lips. Alice was surprised at first, but she closed her eyes, and returned his kiss.

But she slowly broke it, and whispered through tears, "Good-bye," and stepped all the way through the mirror.

His eyes were fixed on her the entire way through the mirror. A small tear rolled down his pale cheek, and he sadly turned away from the mirror.

* * *

Tarrant's family had been taken to their new homes in Marmoreal, but Tarrant chose to stay in his home just outside the city's gates.

He slowly walked up the trail to his home, his eyes still powder-blue.

He opened the white and blue door, and walked into the crowded front room.

He navigated through the piles of hat-making supplies and teacups, then headed up the winding staircase into his bedroom.

The endless shelves of hats he had made for Alice stared him in the face as he stumbled up the stairs. The endless shades of blues and purples blared in his mind, causing him to throw a nearby teacup at the wall.

He screamed as the tears kept coming, and his eyes turned orange, and his endless promises glared at him in his memory; he had been at her very beck-and-call, he had remembered her when she didn't have a clue, he had _loved_ her, he would _always_ love her, he could _never_ stop loving her, and now she was _gone_.

 _GONE._

She had left him _again_. She had looked him in the eye, and just _left_.

The second time it was the Jabberwocky Blood, he had almost _begged_ her to stay, he had almost _knocked the infernal vial out of her beautiful hands_ , but no, he just _stood_ there, and watched her _leave_.

He screamed, and smashed his bottles of paint against the wall, leaving all of his beautiful colors to run down the walls, especially the blues, those torturous shades of sky that glared at him from their stains.

And this time, it was the mirror, he had gained a _small_ bit of courage, and asked her to _stay_ , in the way he _thought_ she would understand. But she left again. She kissed him _back_ , _fooled_ him, then _left_ him, standing at the mirror.

 _GONE._

He picked up the shards of broken glass, and tore at the walls, trying to tear away the taunting shades of blue.

The tears streaked down his face, and he tried to wipe them away, forgetting the glass clenched in his fist.

He cut a shallow gash in his cheek, and he threw the glass at the window, where it bounced right off without leaving a mark.

The mixture of tears and blood ran down his face as he screamed at the ceiling, at the paint-stained walls, at the world. But mostly at himself. For being too _mad_. For not being _good enough_ for Alice. For not being _good enough for her to stay_.

He cupped his bloody face in his bandaged hands, then saw the bandages were torn and bloody from clutching the shards of glass so tight. The red glared at him, making him yell, and rip the bandages off of his hands, throwing them into an over-flowing wastebin.

However, his rage was quickly exhausted, and he crumpled to the floor, sobs racking his thin frame.

He lisped through the sobs into his arms, "Why wasn't I good enough? Why aren't I ever good enough?"

He laid on the floor, sobbing violently into the carpet.

* * *

Three months after Alice left, Tarrant sat gloomily at the teatable at his usual spot, tracing his finger along the rim of Alice's favorite teacup.

Mally looked sadly down the table at her best friend, and said, "Eh, Hatta, she promised she would come back! We've just got to wait a little bit!"

Mirana looked at Mally and shook her head. Mally frowned, and went back to relentlessly stabbing a scone with her needle.

The phonograph played behind Tarrant's chair, but no-one seemed to hear it.

Chessur appeared behind Tarrant, but Mally just shook her head sadly.

Chessur just rolled his large eyes, and said in his deep, smooth voice, "Tarrant, I have something you might want to know."

Tarrant just lisped uninterestedly, "I don't want to know."

Chessur just pressed on, "Well, then I guess you aren't interested in what (or who) I saw falling from the sky over what's left of Salace-in-Grom."

Mirana's eyes lit up, and she mouthed to Chessur, _"Is it Alice?"_

Chessur smiled his knowing smile, and nodded.

Mally, who had seen the entire exchange, said excitedly, "Tarrant! It's Alice! She's back!"

Tarrant's eyes slowly transitioned from the dull grey they had been to their usual bright green. He lisped, "You're not tricking, are you, you slurvish-"

Mirana quickly cut in, saying, "Yes! He's sure!"

Chessur added in casually, "And she's heading this way, just so you know."

A large rustle in the bushed caught everyone's attention, and Tarrant lept from his position at the table straight towards the sound.

Alice lept out from the bushes, with a large variety of sticks and leaves sticking out from her hair, and yelled, _"HATTER!"_

Tarrant smiled an enormous smile to even rival Chessur's and tackle-hugged her, yelling in his heavy lisp, "ALICE! YOU'RE BACK, YOU'RE BACK, YOU'RE BACK!"

Alice returned his hug, holding him close to her, almost crying from pure joy.

Tarrant was actually crying an entire river, while clutching Alice to himself as if letting go of her, for even an instant, would wake him up, and he would return to the cruel nightmare in which Alice was gone.

Mirana stood up, and ran the best she could in her high-heels over to the pair. She nudged herself a space in the hug, and started crying a little herself.

Mally jumped from her spot at the table, and ran over the hug, and latched onto Alice's ankle.

The White Rabbit (Nivens McTwisp) nervously bounded over to them, and bowed to Alice, who smiled.

Tarrant waited until Mirana and Mally broke the hug to pick Alice up from the ground by the waist, and spin her around in a large circle.

Alice laughed, and yelled, "Tarrant!"

He put her down slowly, and hugged her again. Alice looked him in the eyes, and leaned forward into him. She quickly planted her lips on his, closing her eyes.

Tarrant smiled against her lips, and held her closer.

Mirana clasped her hands over her chest, and smiled. Mally produced what was the equivalent of a blush for dormice, and said softly, "Now isn't that lovely?"

Alice broke the kiss, and said, "Tarrant, I've decided there's nothing else for me Above-ground, my mother's dead, so I've got no-one else to care for up there, fez, I guess what I'm trying to say is, Tarrant, I'm staying for good, and I'm never leaving, ever again."

A large smile broke across his face, and he said in the heavy lisp he always adopted when he was nervous, "Ah, Alice, I've something I have to tell you as well. Um..."

He fiddled with something in his pocket, and finally pulled it out. It was a small mismatching velvet box. Mirana hid a small gasp with a loud cough.

Tarrant knelt down on one knee, and said, "Um... Alice, I've been in love with you ever since you fell down that rabbit hole so many years ago, and... I will never stop loving you, and I might've lied when I said your hair needs cutting the first time you came, everything about you is marvelous, magnificent, mesmerizing, magical, majestic-"

Alice said, "Tarrant!"

"Fez! I'm fine."

Alice nodded him on.

Tarrant nodded, and continued, "What I wanted to tell you, to ask you, was if you would do me the tremendous honor of..."

He opened the small box in his hand, revealing a thin, golden ring with a sparkling blue diamond in the center. "Being my wife."

Mirana gasped, and smiled as Alice smiled, and hugged Tarrant around the neck.

Alice shed a few tears of joy as Tarrant carefully slipped the ring onto her ring finger.

* * *

 _The wedding ceremony was a month after that day._

 _Alice and Tarrant were married, and after that, everything was perfect._

 _You see, after Alice returned, she brought back the magic she had seen in Wonderland when she was a small child, returning Wonderland to its former beauty._

 _Two years after their marriage, they were blessed with a small baby girl; with her father's flaming red hair, and her mother's eyes (not that they didn't change with her mood, but their natural color was the color of her mother's eyes)._

 _Tarrant, Alice, and little Beverly lived together in their home overlooking Marmoreal, where they lived happily ever after for the rest of their days (and I know that sounds a little cliched, but it's actually really accurate)._

* * *

 _A/N:_ And that's how _I_ thought it should have gone. If you didn't like it, well, let me know in the reviews. If you _did_ like it, review anyway.

Well, um, review the stories you read, tip your waitresses, and don't feed the Bandersnatch-TOODLES!


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